The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) transport department has failed to utilise its annual development budget.
According to finance department documents, the KP government had allocated Rs8.792 billion for the transport department in the annual development program of the current financial year of which the finance department has released Rs353.729 million till the third quarter of which the transport department has spent only Rs272 million.
The documents show that the provincial government has spent only Rs158.288 million on the mass transit project – Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) – out of Rs8.678 billion loan received from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The finance department sources said that due to difficulties in obtaining funds from the ADB for the BRT project, funds could not be released to BRT project, a major project of the transport department.
Similarly, out of Rs113.988 million allocated for the transport inspection station project included in the annual development program, the transport department could hardly spend Rs97 million. The data show that only Rs12 million could be utilised on “Transport Planning Traffic Engineering Unit ” for which the finance department had released Rs18.707 million.
According to sources, the largest amount of funds was allocated to the BRT project. The project was supposed to be completed in December 2021, but due to lack of funds from ADB province, now the project will be completed in July 2022.Â
